Mystery Modeller

Sunday dawned cold, overcast and windy as a front swept across Johannesburg. The slope behind were I live works in an easterly , and the easterly was blowing, for the first time in many months, so I thought I might give it a try with a battered old Zaggi.

At about 11.00 I looked toward the ridge and noticed someone standing on the skyline, he then launched a glider, which looked like a Zaggi and had no problem flying it in the lift.

I decided to join this unknown, kindred spirit for some flying, he had obviousely also worked out that the wind was right.

We quickly grapped our stuff , climbed a fence and started our hike to the top, when we got there the mytery modeller had vanished?.

Anyway hereunder some cellphone-pics, not great but they will suffice.

BTW I then joking told my son I would land in our garden, some sort of mental self challenge, and so started the hike back down over really rugged sliperry terrain, while flying, which becomes more difficult the lower you go. Its a whole new ball game flying the top of a ridge, from the bottom.

The landing area on top is somewhat challenging

The final landing was in an open area 50 mtrs from my front gate, I am not sure how many landing points one gets?

HTL #5 Henley

Due to the F3J World Championships the Highveld Thermal League #5 was postponed a few weeks to Sunday 3rd of August. And a new field way south of Johannesburg was chosen for event.

Henley Aero Modellers was keen to expose their members to gliding and we needed a field for HTL #5 - so everyone gained and we were able to pass on some of our enthusiasm for gliding to some of their interested members.

The field was in great condition and there was ample space for our winch lines, although we did have to venture into a section of their "badlands" for the last 50 meters or so from the turnabouts.

Club facilities were great with running water for the toilets (they are close enough to the Free State to qualify for their own windmill borehole - check it out on the left of our team picture above). Also lots of shade and braai area if you needed it and a special shelter for Martie's Diner.

The weather was absolutely perfect for gliding. There was hardly any wind early in the morning with good thermal development. In fact it got so good we experienced some rather close encounters with a few really rough whirlwinds.

Thermals were reasonably plentiful and passed through regularly. They were however sometimes small and challenging. What was great was that in most slots, all models didn't have to all hog the same thermal - sometimes three or four thermals were within reach of the field and allowed the group to spread out a bit.


Seven teams were entered but had to be reduced considerably. Of the original entrants published, Anton, Ian, Mike, Robert and Evan couldn't make it - you guys missed another great round of HTL. ETB managed to enter two teams and there was a rather interesting "Moldy Oldies" team with Wolfgang, Rodney and Trevor. Our BERG team ended up being represented by Piet and myself, with Gert becoming a regular fill-in for us.












Due to excellent time management by Lionel we were able to get in a full six rounds and proper lunch break despite starting off a little late. Having that throwaway really helps the not so consistent pilots (like me) who arrive with transmitters set to incorrect models and generally battle to keep up with the consistency of the youngsters nowadays. I did manage a respectable 3rd place, Piet flew his Tsotsi well to end up in 7th and Gert and his Supra ended up 10th.

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Peter Moore's unusual and spectacular
landing approach sequence.
Never thought he'd get near
the spot from the approach
but he made it in safely
albeit upside down!

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There were a few casualties on the day: Trevor had some mishaps close to the ground and Rodney's model lost it's fin and rudder in a midair with Deon's while thermalling. Rodney's model looked like it would be ok when it was higher up but when it got nearer the ground the lack of stability and control became evident and the attempts to manoeuvre to the spot resulting in a outlanding. Trevor retrieved it from across the road.

Landings were not the usual grass farm spear it on the spot type for this contest. Due to the much tougher rock hard and dry southern Gauteng terrain, models had to be gently slid into the spot the old fashioned way.

Final results were Paul in 1st place, Craig 2nd, me 3rd, Johan 4th and Conrad 5th.

Of special note was Jason in 6th place. Some really good flying and a little coaching from Paul through the day got him 6 places ahead of his dad Herman (dig dig).

Congratulations to Lionel for the highest scoring flight of the day. Also big thanks to Lionel and those early birds who helped him set up the field and to the Henley Aero Modellers members for letting us use their field for the day.

Lionel's full report can be found on the MGASA blog in between great episodes of the F3J World Championship reports.

That's all for now, guys.

See you at the next HTL #6 to be hosted by Silverton Gliding Club on the 7th September. And hope to see a few more BERG members there - these events really are great fun and give you invaluable contest experience.

Big Gliders for Aerotow

Check out these beautiful big gliders for aerotowing these awesome pictures off the net, EYECANDY for R/C glider pilots.

Its a half scale ASW 15

Check the TUGS at this meeting.









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Huge FOX in action

Very inspirational "we" could make it happen here with a little effort.

Aerotow open letter

Hi Michel,

Thanks for the lovely post on gliding in Italy , as Derek mentioned there is talk of possible doing something here in S.A .

On the left you see Kens Ka8 about to lift off, you can see the red marker on the tow line on the right.

The guys in Durban (Russ and his sidekicks ) and the guys at J.OM.A.C. are into aero towing, in fact at JOMAC they are now only launching this way and have a lot of experience. Groengoud field would be a better option than JOMAC for aerotowing as its all lawn and one can always take off into wind, and landings are easy. Charl is also keen to make a strip /runway into wind on his grass farm, and this could be another venue.

So whats the hold up... we need a few competent glider pilots who can also fly a tug and then we need a couple of big tugs , I mean big, 100 to 150cc size.(Wilga's Pawnee's or Cubs would do nicely and fit the scale profile.)

The JOMAC tug is an Ugly Stik (big version) with a 1.5cu in fourstroke and it tows up gliders in the 3.5 to light 4mtr class , Adrian is the tug pilot and knows his stuff , so he could help and advise.

In discussions with most of the guys who fly big gliders at the slope, there are plenty of guys who would be keen to explore this method of launching and it would give us the oppurtunity to fly the big stuff more often.

Michel if you want to drive this idea , I am sure there would be support.

Regards

Mike

ps. Get yourself a copy of Paul Natons(radio carbon art)PRO AEROTOW, the 10mtr ETA being aerotowed is mind boggling.

A great day in Italy

At the middle of June I went to Italy where I visited Marco Riva, the owner of a well equipped Model shop "NonDireModellismo" with his partner Samuele. He invited me to spend an afternoon at their flying field. What a nice and organized set-up. Parking separated from the field, a shed and a beautiful "Blanket-Grass-Field".





















They do both, motor and gliding. Firstly, Samuele with his fantastic 150cc Plane,




















an absolute ACE flier, he has been appointed to do the Tug for the afternoon. They use a 25m long line (cotton) with a breaking strength that if the glider or the tug-plane is in difficulty and the release mechanism is faulty, a strong pull at the line would cause it to break.


















After a nice show of expertly done loops, stalls, inverted flying, etc, etc, Samuel started his "Job" as the tug-pilot. There were a 4-5m Discus, a Nimbus and other three models, all in perfect condition and majestic looking.

A 120cc red V-tail tug with a wood prop is normally used to do the "Donkey-Work". First to go is the Discus Piloted by Mauro, a very gentle and clean takeoff and in less than half a minute the glider is at an altitude well over our winch launch. The glider hooks-off, turns to the left, the tug dives after a sharp right turn and comes to land to pick-up the next waiting glider, just like in full-size.

Unfortunately the tug had an engine problem, no sweat, another plane was brought in, a made-shift harness was tied around the wing joiners and the new tug was ready for the next launch.
















The thermals were great and the scale-gliders were just magnificent to watch in the late afternoon sky. Sunset was towards 21.30-22.00 hrs and this felt that the entire afternoon was an entire day.
















I had great fun watching and participating in the action.














I like to thank Marco for the invitation, Samuel for a Champion display, (he is by the way an Italian champion!), Mauro and all the other members for a great day. Next time I will take along a glider and will contribute to the spectacle.

Michel (alias Amzimmy)

BTW: if you need some special parts, servos, radios, receivers, motors or anything else in the modeling spectrum that you cant get in SA, call me and I'll put you in contact with Marco, his prices are very reasonable and will be sent (a combined order) with UPS and in two days you will have your goodies!

Back to the drawing board

Saterday Peter, Chris, Charl and Myself went out to see if we could successfully launch the Ventus off the ground with the electric assist.

During the week I had pop riveted together a take off dolly with some scrap bits of aluminium I had lying around.

It was a three wheeler with a single at the rear , the idea being that it would be easier to steer with the rudder as it gained speed.

The AXI motor certainly has enough power and with the wind pretty much straight down the runway I fiqured it would take off ok.

A few trail taxi runs showed that I could control and steer with the rudder. Next attempt would be to touch the up elevator and see if it would take off.

At about 80 to 100 mtrs of take off run and gaining speed, it looked good and I pulled the elevator , the trolley/dolly moved slightly under the glider and it pulled off the runway to the side.

I immediatly shut the motor. After several more attempts all doing the same thing we came to the comclusion that the trolley needs a redesign.

What appears to happen is that ,as it approaches flying speed one or the other wing lifts slighty off the trolley which then shifts , the plane then fails to lift off and pulls to the side onto the verge.

The solution is to add some upright pegs which will keep the glider aligned on the trolley until it reaches a higher speed, we will try again soon.

Charl and Peter then flew their power planes and we discussed the prospects of future aero-towing gliders . I think its time to pull my big Pilates Porter out of the ceiling and get it running It has 20cc motor and could tow up medium size gliders but it flies a tad fast.